Remembering My Friend Sister Geraldine Bernards SSMO

June 12, 2015June 11, 2015Sr. Krista von Borstel Leave a comment

I must pause and write a story about my friend, Sr. Geraldine. I had the privilege of living with her at St. Therese convent which is attached to Maryville Nursing Home. I was teaching at St. Mary of the Valley (Valley Catholic) at the time and lived with our Sisters who worked at the nursing home. What a blessing to me to be around these Sisters. Sister Geraldine and I had a lot in common. We were both entrepreneurs, enjoyed people and spent very little time doing nothing!

She was the Director of Nurses at the time and had a heavy work schedule. On Christmas and Thanksgiving she would put lunches and dinners on at the nursing home for the Staff who had to work and would not be at home for their meal. They so appreciated that kind touch. Several of us helped her out with it and I always made sure I was available to help her out. She loved to cook so I was her chief bottle washer.

One of my favorite memories of her was the occasion of one of the many rummage sales we put on. There was a tin Christmas tree that was really pretty cute but just wouldn’t sell. On Saturday night before we cut all of the prices in half for Sunday we talked about how we could sell the tree. We could either give it away….or increase the price! We moved it from $12. to $50. and it went within the hour! We chuckled about that for a long time.

When Sr. Geraldine celebrated 50 years in community she invited me to go on a trip to Alaska with her. It was a fantastic adventure and I felt very honored to go.

After Sr. Theresa Margaret retired as CEO of Maryville, Sr. Geraldine became the administrator. She was a visionary who made a lot of wonderful improvements to the facility. Having been nurse, Director of Nurses and then Administrator, she really understood the work from top to bottom.

Sr. Geraldine passed away in May of this year. She had suffered a stroke shortly after retiring from administrator of the nursing home. She spent the last several years in our infirmary. Sr. Theresa Ann Bunker was also her very special friend who went to school with her for nursing and worked at the nursing home side by side for many years.

I am a grateful soul for having witnessed the wonderful life of Sr. Geraldine Bernards.

Sister Theresa Ann Bunker, Sister Theresa Margaret Yettick (dec.), Sister Geraldine Bernards (dec.) 1997

Funeral service for Sr. Geraldine Bernards at the Sisters cemetery on the grounds of the Sisters of St. Mary of Oregon.

Sisters of St. Mary of Oregon Begin General Chapter Meetings in Beaverton

March 24, 2015March 23, 2015Sr. Krista von Borstel Leave a comment

Chapter

The word is said to be derived from the chapter of the rule book: it is a custom under the Rule of Saint Benedict that monks or nuns gather daily for a meeting to discuss monastery business, hear a sermon or lecture, or receive instructions from the abbot/abbess, and as the meeting begins with a reading of a chapter from the Rule, the meeting itself acquired the name “chapter”, and the place where it is held, “chapter house” or “chapter room”.

The term was then extended to apply to other meetings. The term general chapter designates a monastic general assembly, usually of representatives from all of the monasteries of an order or congregation.

The Sisters of St. Mary of Oregon (SSMO) hold a general chapter every five years for the purpose of spiritual introspection, charting the course for the next five years and election of new leadership.

The Chapter was opened by Sr. Charlene Herinckx on Sunday March 22, 2015 with 61 members of the Congregation in attendance. The meetings will conclude Saturday March 28th.

OFFICIALS…..I Respect and Appreciate Them!

March 13, 2015Sr. Krista von Borstel Leave a comment

As we enter into the last weekend of basketball, I would be negligent if I did not mention the contribution of Rick Skayhan’s Basketball Officiating program. Ref Corps is the name of the program our officials sign up through. Ref Corps was begun a few years ago when CYO transferred management of officials to Rick Skayhan, avid CYO supporter.

Nothing is as controversial as an official! That may be an understatement! CYO believes in teaching young people to become officials primarily because we are the “Catholic Youth Organization.” Everyone has to start somewhere and in my opinion, if you cannot get a good start at CYO then where can you?

Officiating takes a special person. You have to have the courage to go out on the court and make the tough calls. You have to deal with the crowd who collectively have many more eyeballs than you do and see much more than you are able to see with only two eyeballs! Additionally the coaches, players and spectators bring a wide range of variables to every game.

CYO is as dependent upon the officials willingness to officiate as we are on the coaches willingness to coach. The young people who have been stepping forward to learn to become officials are great kids. If they are able to make it through the first year or two, they will realize what a gift officiating is to them.

Officiating develops characteristics in youth that contribute to strong character. It will help establish personal boundaries that may one day pay off in a tough situation. Officials are better equipped to say “no” when necessary. Some people are too afraid to say “no.” What a great gift to send your son or daughter off to college with!

Thank you to all of our officials who have helped us out with Football, Volleyball and basketball this year. Several Track and Field Officials are needed this spring so be sure to contact Rick Skayhan at Ref Corps if you are interested. Four track meets per Saturday throughout April with Championships in May.

Sr. Krista and CYO Official, Kyle Garcia at the CYO Championships 2015

Ronnie Ford, CYO Basketball and Football official for 15 years

Rick Skayhan visits with two of the officials he has coached up through the program at the CYO Championships 2015

Rick Skayhan visits with Casey Nicholl and Riley Pendergast, two officials he has coached up through the Ref Corps Officiating program.

I Went to Camp Howard Today….Here’s the Scoop…

March 12, 2015March 9, 2015Sr. Krista von Borstel 2 Comments

This was a PERFECT day to go to Camp Howard. There was actually dust on the road! A sure sign of spring! Karen, Bill, Candi, Leila and I meet almost weekly to work on our camp improvements for next year. We are reviewing all of the procedures and we have topics we surfaced during camp last year to discuss In the off season. Some of those topics include”

Keeping the Summer Staff Safe
Improving our Emergency Procedures
Make sure kids things are packed up properly before they return to Portland
and several other topics.

We worked from 10:00 until noon then stopped for lunch. After lunch, before we started the afternoon session, we went on a field trip to check out the progress on projects. I can tell you the kids will be jumping for joy with some of the improvements!

Kids Jumping for Joy!

Eagle Scout Project – New Overnight Location with fire pit, logs and sleeping area!

Candi Trapp, Bill Fogarty, Leila Blakely, Karen von Borstel

Mt. Hood between the trees at Camp Howard!

Fircrest Unit overlooking the Bull Run Reservoir

Who’s Coaching CYO Basketball? For Riehl?

March 11, 2015March 13, 2015Sr. Krista von Borstel 1 Comment

T.R. Riehl hails from Heppner, OR where he played fullback and linebacker on the Heppner High School State Championship Football Team! Today, he coaches his children and others in a variety of CYO sports including Football and Basketball. THANKS T.R. for your contribution to youth in the CYO program!

T.R. Riehl coaches CYO Basketball at Christ the King.

Larry Woods in the Woods and in the Metal Shop!

February 20, 2015February 19, 2015Sr. Krista von Borstel Leave a comment

Larry Woods is a remarkable man! Talented and gifted in so many ways! How lucky are we that he is our neighbor at Camp Howard? Larry is a retired forester who worked very hard in life. Along the way he learned a lot about the forest industry and also about mechanics, welding, building with metal, painting metal, etc. He rebuilt our camp luggage trailer a couple years ago and it was really a work to behold including some pin striping! He rebuilt the hitch to make it easier for a couple of gals to operate (Karen and I).

Currently he has been working on removing the Alder growth that tries to get a stronghold in new plantations of Douglas Fir. He has really made some great headway on that project. One of the most interesting things he is doing is building “rock cribs” for us out of metal. Now you are wondering what a rock crib is! I will have to do a special posting one of these days on rock cribs from Eastern Oregon. Maybe some of my friends will send me pictures of rock cribs to use?

Anyway a rock crib is one of those special little devices that has a variety of positive attributes. It provides a space to place rocks that farmers don’t want in the field because rocks break up the equipment. So they build cribs to put the rocks in and keep them out of the way. The cribs are built along fence lines because they help stabilize fences. The weight of the crib would anchor the fence. In some places in Eastern Oregon, it is hard to dig into the ground to plant a fence post so the rock crib became the anchor for the fence post as well.

What are we going to do with them at Camp Howard? We are going to mark the boundary lines of the camp with them for starters. Then we are going to use them to anchor the new fence and gates we will replace along the front edge of the property along Camp Howard Road. These rock cribs will last a lot longer than the ones my Grandfather built out of wood.

I would like to hear some comments on your own experience with Rock Cribs…

Larry Wood in his shop where he has built a prototype rock crib for Camp Howard.

I would like to extend an invitation to all of my friends…please read about it here

February 5, 2015Sr. Krista von Borstel Leave a comment

http://portlandtribune.com/bvt/15-news/249605-117797-sisters-of-st-mary-of-oregon-let-the-public-in-for-a-peek

Convent Note Re Superbowl…

February 5, 2015Sr. Krista von Borstel Leave a comment

You may or may not wonder….how do the Sisters of St. Mary of Oregon feel about such things as the Superbowl?

Lots of Seahawk fans!

Part of the Sisters daily routine is Evening Prayer which is said just before the evening meal.

I had to take a photo of the note posted outside the Chapel because this just doesn’t happen!!!

What’s Up this week… Not to Miss!!!

July 27, 2014Sr. Krista von Borstel Leave a comment

1. Sunday…Jubilee Sunday with the Sisters of St. Mary of Oregon – Celebrating anniversaries in Religious Life…One celebrating 75 years, (3) 60’s and (1) 50 years… Who are these fantastic women and what are their stories?

2. Monday – Thursday Trap Camp at Camp Howard! Shooting clay targets with shot guns!

3. The Camp Store and how it operates and who operates it this year

4. Behind the scenes at Camp Howard! Who is behind the scenes and what are they doing?

Light, Value Patterns, Notan, building an art vocabulary at Art Camp!

July 22, 2014July 22, 2014Sr. Krista von Borstel Leave a comment

Wow…a treasure packed opportunity for the art camp campers this week! Joanne Radmilovich Kollman has pulled out all the stops to give the campers the very best possible art experience possible and this is only day 2.

The camp, billed as a “Portrait Art Camp” has lived up to it’s title. Starting with black and white mediums, Joanne got the concept of “value” across the the youngsters as they worked with various forms of charcoal and pencil.

Today, color was introduced in both watercolor and oil paint.

We took an hour off from 1:00 to 2:00 for a refreshing swim in the pool, came back ready to paint! Joanne set up a pear on a white plate and showed the students how to start an oil painting. Can’t wait to show you some results!

Morning shots: “reductive drawing with the eraser” We are “taking away” after adding dark values to the paper: